Cop Shop: Police chiefs weigh in, unfiltered, on massacre prevention

It's been a week since 20 young children were massacred at their school by a man using his mother's automatic weapons in Newtown, CT. He also killed six adults, his mother and himself.

Vice President Joe Biden is leading a task force to propose new policies in January about how to reduce gun violence.

Both Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryan and Florida Senator Eleanor Sobel (D-Hollywood), a former teacher, are calling for more school resource officers (sworn, armed law enforcement officers) in all Broward schools.

Sobel proposes paying for SROs with a special tax district that would need voter approval, and to seek federal funding as well.

The shooting is on the minds of local law enforcement, some of whom emailed their thoughts and ideas on the issues surrounding mass shootings, which I'm presenting unfiltered, here and in a second blog post.

Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti: “Gun control as a solution is too little, too simple and too late. There are 300 million guns already out there. There’s 200,000 guns reported stolen every year from homes and cars. We had a Tamarac pawn shop burglary about two years ago when they stole 48 guns. If criminals can’t buy guns, they’re gonna steal ‘em.”

“The real thing -- from Columbine, the mall shooting, Virginia Tech, the Batman movie and Newtown – those shooters all committed suicide. These guys didn’t wake up and decide to take hostages one morning. It’s a mental health issue. That Newtown mother knew her son had a mental health disorder. Why did she take him shooting and allow him access to weapons?”

“The jails are the defacto mental health providers in the country. In Broward County, we’re the largest mental health provider. We have, like 1,000 inmates on psycho tropic drugs because there is no other remedy or facility for them. About five years ago, we considered a separate, stand alone forensic mental health facility for North Broward because they commit crimes when they are not well. It would not have been a jail. That was scrapped because of the budget.”

“It’s the warning signs. With every one of these events, afterward someone always says, ‘I knew he had a problem.’ They wait until they snap until they tell someone. It’s recognizing the warning signs and having a better mental health treatment program. As a society, we need to react before the next event occurs. If your kid breaks their leg you take ‘em to the emergency room and get their leg fixed. If your kid is acting out violently with a mental disorder, where do you take them? We get called by parents. But unless a crime is committed, where do you take them? There is no simple solution.”

“Every gun you buy comes with a gun lock. That’s a federal law that it’s provided. But people aren’t using the locks. It’s more for child safety than anything else.”

About requiring gun owners to have a gun safe and lock, Lamberti said, “That goes against owners’ desire for accessibility, that’s the other side of the argument. I tell owners to practice, practice, practice, because they are often used against you.”

“Newtown’s one in a long line of incidents, and I guess people are finally paying attention. Every Broward school campus should have an armed, school resource officer. Ideally that would be good thing. I don’t think there’s any need to arm teachers. They didn’t go to school for that. But when the budget got tight, they were one of the first things that got cut. Now one officer has three schools as his or her responsibility, and that’s in BSO jurisdictions. I don’t know about other cities.”

“What about the video game phenomenon: what role does that play? Is it harmless or harmful? They desensitize kids about the sanctity of life, getting points for killing people. How does that relate to real life?”